Thanks to the herculean efforts of the The Voice’s Ryan, we’ve got a new look and new features. The biggest change on the home page is the introduction of three featured stories at the top, so that the best content can stay prominent for longer without being pushed aside by the latest blog posts.
There are also many changes which reflect the declining proportion of our audience who sit at a computer and come to the home page. Whether you view the site on the move (new mobile version), like using a …
Well, it’s not quite an op-ed article, but there’s a detailed letter from Lib Dem leader of Islington Council, Cllr Terry Stacy, urges all councils to follow Islington’s example, and reject the local use of surveillance powers. Here’s an excerpt:
… local government really is on the frontline of Britain’s expanding surveillance state – councillors and council leaders need to be held accountable for their decisions. Councillors must decide whether they embrace the surveillance society, or reject it and introduce checks and balances and public democratic oversight of the local use of surveillance powers, as the Liberal Democrats have done
Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable argues that the British economy needs older workers. Here’s an excerpt:
Since 2007, for the first time in British history, there have been more people over pension age than children. Every year there is a growth in the number of elderly people relative to the number of younger working people supporting them. Every Election there is an increase in the numbers of older voters relative to younger voters.
These changes are of revolutionary importance. But whenever the subject of an ageing population is discussed, it is usually in pessimistic terms. Older
Here’s the result of the Norwich North by-election. In spectacularly uncoordinated fashion, all the LDV team are otherwise occupied this afternoon – so use this thread to pass your comment on the result…
The tension is clearly mounting over on Nich Starling’s twitter account, with the news expected “within five minutes” over half an hour ago.
Over at The Guardian today, Councillor John Shipley, Lib Dem leader of Newcastle city council, writes a robust response to Tristram Hunt’s partial (in every sense) attack on the Lib Dems’ record in local government. Here’s an excerpt:
Tristram Hunt’s claim that the many cities and urban councils now run by Liberal Democrats lack the leadership and vision of Labour authorities such as Manchester and Glasgow is nonsense. … He fails to mention Newcastle upon Tyne at all. Lost by Labour to the Lib Dems in 2004, civic leadership flourishes here with a new £40m city library and investment in cultural
Lib Dem blogger and LDV-editor-on-sabbatical Alix Mortimer writes for CiF about tuition fees and the Lib Dems.
I wish people would let go of this idea that the pre-tuition fees era was some sort of egalitarian utopia. No system ever is.
Even so, Nick Clegg’s suggestion that scrapping tuition fees be downgraded from a firm Lib Dem policy commitment to an “aspiration” makes me uneasy, and not just because of the Labour-flavoured wording. I cannot imagine why he thinks this particular quarrel is worth picking now.
Over at The Guardian, Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik returns to the subject whence he first came to public attention: the threat to the Earth of an asteroid impact. Here’s an excerpt:
The discovery of what appears to be a large crater caused by an asteroid impact on Jupiter provides a graphic illustration of the destructive potential of this type of cosmic event. Sixty-five million years ago, the reign of the dinosaurs was brought to a fiery end by a cataclysmic impact with a 10km-wide asteroid. It will happen again – we just don’t know when. However, for the first time
Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free website, Nick Clegg argues that a Westminster stitch-up has seen both main parties dodge reform demands in the dash for the recess door. Here’s an excerpt:
If someone had told me two months ago, in the middle of the expenses scandal, that MPs would go on their summer break without having rewritten the rules of British politics, I wouldn’t have believed it. I thought the public demand for change was, for once, overwhelming. Yet, scandalously, that’s what’s happened. …
It is easy to understand the resistance to reform from the Conservatives. Maintenance of the status
Over at The Independent, former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown argues that the history of the Afghan war is one of continuous mistakes, and outlines the key factors which can transform defeat into success. Here’s an excerpt:
I start from the proposition that the war in Afghanistan is one we have to fight and must win. The cost of failure there is just too great. It includes the certain fall of Pakistan and the possible emergence of the world’s first Jihadist Government with a nuclear weapon; the re-creation in Afghanistan of a lawless space open for the preparation and export
That this House recognises the signficance of Bletchley Park, historic site of secret British code-breaking activities during the Second World War and birthplace of the modern computer; acknowledges that the use of the intelligence gained at Bletchley Park and subsequent related actions of the Allies is said to have shortened the Second World War by two years, saving countless lives; and calls on
Over at The Independent, Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable’s speech to the London Stock Exchange is excerpted:
I stand here to outline the Liberal Democrat proposals for significant changes to the regulatory structure of the City and its future direction. These proposals build on ideas we set out over a year ago in our New Deal for the City. Some of those ideas – macroprudential regulation of bank capital; linking bonuses to long-term stock performance; reform of rating agencies – have become part of the conventional wisdom and I don’t need to rehearse them.
Yesterday’s Observer feature – the revealing ‘This much I know’ – featured ubiquitous Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik. Here’s a couple of excerpts:
The press has created for me a persona as a wacky guy who goes out with beautiful women, and there were times in my life when I would have paid for that image. But it really annoys me when people ring up and say: “What are you doing going out with so and so?” I could be banging Adam Price and it wouldn’t affect my ability to do my job.
Over at the new Operation Black Vote (OBV) blog, two Lib Dems – Nick Clegg and Merlene Emerson – have published articles, excerpts below…
Believing in our children, not criminalising them (Nick Clegg)
Nick argues that dealing with crime needs a completely new approach to the counter-productive policies of New Labour:
In these difficult times, the prospect of rising youth offending is a serious one. But fear mustn’t now give credence to the New Labour way, which is to bang up our children the moment they divert from the straight and narrow. Britain now has 3,000 children in prison – more than
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has attacked government “chaos and confusion” over renewing the Trident missile system. No 10 has insisted the timetable for renewing Trident is unchanged. But earlier, officials implied that key decisions would be put off until May 2010 ahead of a conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Mr Clegg said the prime minister should make a “climbdown” and admit the missile system was not justified given equipment shortages in Afghanistan. In a statement, Downing Street said there had been “no change” in the government position that Trident would be renewed.
The Independent today publishes an extrract from Nick Clegg’s speech to the National Liberal Club, marking the 150th anniversary of the first Parliamentary Liberal Party caucus. Here’s an excerpt from the excerpt:
… in the battle of ideas the Liberal Democrats are winning. The first party to identify the dangers of an overleveraged banking system. The first to advocate radical political reform. Consistent in our defence of civil liberties. Principled in our defence of the international rule of law. Outspoken in correcting our woefully imbalanced tax system. Radical on the need to make Britain environmentally sustainable. Brave in standing up to
Over at The Guardian, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne argues that fresh evidence in the News of the World hacking scandal should compel the Met to re-open its inquiry. Here’s an excerpt:
The surveillance state has rightly become a matter of great public concern, which is why the Guardian’s scoop that the use of private investigators who phone hacked was apparently widespread on the News of the World was so sensational. This is not something that can be brushed aside, because it strikes at the heart of the privacy any individual can expect in a civilised society. If the
The decision by Nick Clegg to break the political concensus by questioning British military strategy in Afghanistan, combined with further tragic casualties in the past week, has seen the conflict propelled to the forefront of national debate. Today the Prime Minister came to the Commons to deliver a Parliamentary statement on the war in Afghanistan and last week’s G8 Summit. Here’s what Nick Clegg said in response:
Sir Menzies Campbell is to chair an inquiry into the police raid on the Commons office of Tory MP Damian Green.
The former Lib Dem leader will review how the Commons authorities deal with search requests from the police. The cross-party panel also includes former home secretaries David Blunkett and Michael Howard and ex-foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind.
Commons leader Harriet Harman, who has set up the pane, will ask MPs to approve its terms of reference. She has asked it to report by
An email drops into the Voice’s inbox asking us to alert readers to the following event:
Just wanted to give you a heads up that on Monday, Nick Clegg, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, will be joining the Reuters UK team to take questions live for one of the first purely social media events of its kind. No topic is off limits. Should you wish to post a question, read the comments thus far and get a firsthand account of Nick Clegg’s take on the importance of social media in politics, please click here.
The event will take place from 12.15 – 2pm BST on Monday July 13th. Should you wish to participate, you can find the live video stream on the link above.
Despite what the U.S. authorities say, Gary McKinnon is no cyber-terrorist. He is a computer whiz with a serious medical condition. That is not to say he isn’t a criminal. His hacking into American military computers and leaving messages was foolish and illegal. No one, not even his supporters, are suggesting that his crimes go unpunished. … But Gary McKinnon has been hung
Over at the Daily Telegraph Nick Clegg argues is time for a new strategy and fresh commitment to Afghanistan. Here’s an excerpt:
As leader of the Liberal Democrats, I have been keen to maintain the cross-party consensus on Afghanistan that formed after September 11, and has not faltered since. But recent events have led me to question, for the first time, whether we’re going about things in the right way. I am concerned that we are simply not giving our troops the means to do their difficult job. We must not will the ends without being prepared to will the means.
I am a Liberal interventionist, who believes military action is justified when supported by reason and the law. I support the aim of our mission wholeheartedly: to stop Afghanistan reverting to a haven for terrorism, with its people oppressed and impoverished. To achieve that, military forces need to create enough space for stability and good governance to take root.
But we need to ask whether the Government has the will, strategy or tactics to do the job properly.
A British MEP has withdrawn from the race to become the next president of the European Parliament “to save the European Union”. Liberal Democrat Graham Watson said he is joining a cross-party cabal which will see the job carved up between the Parliament’s mainstream centre-right and centre-left parties for the next five years.
When the newly-elected European Parliament meets for the first time next week, it now looks as if former Polish prime minister Jerzy Buzek, a member of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), will get the job. In return, the three main parties in the
LIBERAL Democrat campaigner Jeremy Wilcock has been chosen to contest John Prescott’s seat at the next General Election. The former Deputy Prime Minister is retiring from the House of Commons at the next election after representing Hull East since 1970.
In the 2005 election vote Mr Prescott won with a reduced majority of 11,747 – down almost 3,600 on the previous General Election. Four years ago, the Lib Dems finished second with their candidate Andy Sloan increasing his party’s share of the vote. …
However, since 2005 the Lib Dems have established a comfortable overall majority on
Over at The Times, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable argues that government should stop being so polite and lay down the law: free up lending, regulate risk and don’t sell the taxpayer short. Here’s an excerpt:
There is a battle royal being fought out over the scale and scope of regulation. There is some common ground: mindless, bureaucratic box-ticking has to give way to a form of supervision that identifies systemic risk; there is also agreement around the concept of “macro-prudential” regulation, with the Bank of England in the lead.
There are powerful forces arguing for the return to the status
Over at The Guardian Lib Dem supporter (and former ‘agony aunt’) Claire Rayner argues that only electoral reform can break the cycle of cynicism over politics and politicians by encouraging people to vote again. Here’s an excerpt:
So, the right to vote was fought for, and everyone over the age of 18 in the UK is able to choose their representative for minor and important matters of state. Do they? Do they, hell. We have the most feeble of democracies because people do not bother exercising their right to vote. A disappointing number of eligible Britons turned up to vote for
Over at the Indpendent, Lib Dem peer Lord (Antony) Lester argues that citizens are entitled to know if their conduct is criminal. Here’s an excerpt:
The Suicide Act 1961 changed the law so that suicide is no longer a crime, but it remains a crime to encourage or assist suicide, and the current state of the law is not as certain as criminal law should be. Criminal liability depends on the way a particular Director of Public Prosecutions decides what is in the public interest.
Like many others, I believe that we need a legal framework which would allow doctors and nurses
Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem peer Lord (Alex) Carlile, the independent reviewer of British anti-terrorist laws, takes up the case of Asperger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon, who is under threat of potentially health-threatening extradition to the USA after he hacked his way methodically into protected documents. Lord Carlile argues he should be tried in the British courts:
Gary McKinnon is immature, vulnerable and sadly without insight into the effect he sometimes has on others. He suffers from a severe form of Asperger’s Syndrome. He is obsessive and can be difficult. He hates any changes of routine. Medical evidence shows him
Over at The Independent, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable argues that progressive taxation will not, of itself, neutralise the problem, which has to be dealt with at source. Here’s an excerpt:
I am not surprised to discover that leading accountants are advising high earners in the City how to reduce the tax they pay on their bonuses. That is what tax accountants do. And that is what bankers do. Neither profession is affiliated to the Boy Scouts. It is the Government which needs to explain why tax revenue is disappearing. One major reason is that the 50 per cent top
Lib Dem blogger Jonathan Fryer has the details (with apologies for LDV’s belatedness):
The ALDE (Liberal) Group in the new European Parliament has chosen the Flemish Liberal and former Prime Minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, to be its new leader. He takes over from the British (South West England) Liberal Democrat MEP Graham Watson, who has meanwhile thrown his hat into the ring to try to be the new President of the parliament. Under Graham’s stewardship, ALDE grew to just over 100 members within the previous, larger, parliament. The British were the biggest national contingent in ALDE then, but they were
Over at The Independent, there is an extract from former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown’s speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House examining the situation in Afghanistan. Here’s an excerpt:
… the chief reason for the fact that we are losing lives is not in the ineffectiveness of the Afghan government, who we love to blame, but in our own complete failure to have any coordinated international plan; in our inability to work together between the nations of the coalition; in our determination to see Afghanistan solely through the prism of the place in which we
Dennis The government has achieved a lot of what it promised to do, and had been on track to achieve more policies stated in their manifesto. https://fullfact.org/gove...
Chloe I've little sympathy for Starmer.
But what he did deserve was to deliver that deeply personal resignation speech uninterrupted by that usual borish oaf S.Bray...
Slamdac The appears to be some British exceptionalism in these comments.
I accept that the EU can't force us to have a referendum, but we can't force them to accep...
Nonconformistradical "My fear is that Labour are just changing their captain and not their policy programme. What Burnham has said so far is very confusing and disappointing."
Se...
Mick Taylor Kier Starmer is a decent man, who was wholly out of his depth as PM. Everyone should read Ian Dunt's assessment on his substack
https://iandunt.substack.com/
...
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A journey along the Welsh Border in 1963
Recipe for a real change of direction
Day 9304: So Farewell Then, Kier Starmer
Dennis 
Chloe 
Slamdac 
Nonconformistradical 
Mick Taylor 